BHUBANESWAR: Rituals at the Lingaraj Temple were disrupted for hours on Friday after a Romanian tourist was found inside the temple premises on Friday.
The tourist was identified as Vasilache Andrei-Cristian. He entered the temple at around 12 pm. Some servitors suspecting his nationality informed police and temple supervisor and he was whisked away to the temple office. Verification of his credentials revealed that he is a Christian. Police questioned him for an hour before he was let go.
Notably, the entry of non-Hindus is prohibited in Lingaraj temple and a signboard is displayed at the temple gate informing devotees about it.
Chief of the Brahmana Nijog Biranchi Narayan Pati said a purification ritual was subsequently performed in the temple and the ‘abhada’ prepared for Lord Lingaraj worth thousands of rupees was dumped in ‘Amunia’ pool. The temple servitors, however, questioned the security frisking at the entrance of the temple.
“This is not the first time that foreign nationals have entered the temple. It is surprising that temple officials and police are not able to recognise them during their entry. This results in disruption of rituals and also, wastage of a lot of abhada that is cooked. It is the Suar Mahasuar Nijog that bears the cost of this wastage,” Pati said.
Sources in the temple office said from his appearance, they could not recognise him as a foreign national.
Meanwhile, the schedule for Sital Sasthi celebration at Lingaraj temple was finalised at a preparatory meeting on Friday. While the divine wedding will take place on May 30 at Kedar Gauri temple, the deities will return to Lingaraj temple the next day.
It was decided that the wedding procession will begin from Lingaraj temple at 10.40 pm on May 30 and the wedding will be over by 3 am. The divine couple will return to Lingaraj temple the next day at 9.30 pm.